Improved Austenitic Steels for Power Plant Applications

Using alloy design principles, an austenitic alloy, with base composition of Fe-16Cr-16Ni-2Mn-1Mo (in weight percent, wt%), was formulated to which up to 5 wt% Si and/or Al were added specifically to improve the oxidation resistance. Cyclic oxidation tests were carried out in air at 700 and 800 C for 1000 hours. For comparison, Fe-18Cr-8Ni type-304 stainless steel alloys was also tested. The results showed that at 700 C, all the alloys were twice as oxidation resistant as the type-304 alloy (i.e., the experimental alloys showed weight gains about half that of type-304). Surprisingly, at 800 C, alloys that contained both Al and Si additions were less oxidation resistant than the type-304 alloy. However, alloys containing only Si additions were significantly more oxidation resistant than the type 304 alloys (i.e., showed weight gains 4 times less than the type-304 alloy). Further, alloys with only Si additions pre-oxidized at 800 C, showed zero weight gain in subsequent testing for 1000 hours at 700 C. This implies the potential for producing in-situ protective coating for these alloys. Preliminary exposure tests (1%H2S at 700 C for 360 hrs) indicated that the Si-modified alloys are more sulfidation resistant than type-304 alloy. The mechanical properties of the alloys, modified with carbide forming elements, were also evaluated; and at 600, 700 and 800 C the yield stresses of the carbide modified alloys were twice that of type-304 stainless steel. In this temperature range, the tensile properties of these alloys were comparable to literature values for type-347 stainless steel. It should be emphasized that the microstructures of the carbide forming alloys were not optimized with respect to grain size, carbide size and/or carbide distribution. Also, presented are initial results of vari-strain weld tests used to determine parameters for joining these alloys